The internet is fantastic, you can find out anything about just any kind of clock, exchange pictures easily, correspond with people and work together on research. Sometimes getting parts is tough, too, although it turns out Westclox made lots and lots of spare parts. Thanks, Teri. Here you can see production dates, original retail prices and other Sometimes extensive casework can be more time consuming than getting the movement running. It is encased in hard polymer Plastic and the ends have rivets . The only problem is a standard size D battery does not fit. This classic clock is known for its loud and distinct bell-like . Im always interested in the history and the variations of clocks and how they fit in the scheme of things, what came before and what came after. Read more about "Radium Girls" here. Based in Flora, Indiana, Bill can be reached via his website, clockhistory.com, which is a member of our Hall of Fame. The thing I remember most is working with the people, Ristau said. I tried selling some of my surplus electric Big Bens on eBay and they just didnt go, you could get only about $0.99 for them. 226RA has a half life of about 1600 years and the glow of the paint used on dials and hands decreases because of the damage the alpha particles emitted by the Radium do to the ZnS . When Westclox changed over to the style 8 Big Ben and Baby Ben in 1964, they used 4 divisions per 5 minutes, I believe to make the alarm easier to set. In a way theyre preventing clocks from being thrown away so I cant totally condemn it, but it still seems like a funny thing to do. Westclox - An Identification and Price Guide, and I added even more in 2012. "[5] However, radium is highly radioactive, emitting alpha, beta, and gamma radiation the effects of which are particularly deleterious if inhaled or ingested since there is no shielding within the body. It led to life-saving regulations and, ultimately, to the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which now operates nationally in the United States to protect workers. Fortunately, in the years since, theres been a noble effort to retain surviving parts of the building and some of the important local history that the empty factory once represented. . Safety Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. [Left: The first national Big Ben advertisement appears in the Saturday Evening Post in 1910: Big Ben is a thin, beautiful and punctual sleepmeter with a silent motor that will not annoy you on your lie-awake nights and a deep musical voice that will call you on your sleepiest mornings. Right and Below: A style 1A Big Ben from our museum collection, circa 1920s.]. Various lettering on the dial and various patent dates (later, numbers) on the Like style 1a non-luminous with dealer name on dial. We thought it was 1890 or older. I have a similar clock. T. tkarter Registered User. Could you suggest how I could go about finding out this information. Thank you. In 1914, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky and Dr. George S. Willis founded the Radium Luminous Material Corporation. My husband has a Big Ben clock that he inherited, it was took down from a mill and given to his grandma. Selling for $2.50 in the years before World War I (or about $60 in modern money), the 5-inch diameter Big Ben and its half-pint cousin the Baby Ben combined to move over 900,000 units in just 1913 alone, and the Western Clock MFG Companynot yet officially known as Westcloxwas producing more than twice that many clocks annually in total. when did westclox stop using radium. The only marking I can find are the letters ST in old english style inside of a diamond thats inside of a circle, on the clock works. When the Radium Dial Company moved to Ottawa in the 20s to better serve its number one client, Westclox, they were welcomed with enthusiasm, particularly by the young, working class women in the town. From 1917 to 1926, the United States Radium Corporation used radium to produce wristwatches and clocks. Copyright Westclox began as the United Clock Company in Peru, Illinois in 1885. My moms father had a small collection of antique clocks and when I was a little boy he showed me how to wind them and regulate them. I know it was purchased in 1937 because it belonged to my elderly friends who were married in 1938. All the aforementioned to ask you if you know how many of the 1970 style 1As were made. Production was back in full force and at an all-time high by 1956, with 3,000 employees on staff. Stoddard: My grandma gave me an old Baby Ben alarm clock that didnt work when I was seven. I was told it was an antique at that time. Stopping this practice drastically reduced the amount of radium ingested and therefore, the incidence of malignancy. In the comprehensive Big Ben & Baby Ben Identification Guide, organized by researchers Richard Tjarks and Bill Stoddard, they credit the original brilliant marketing of these little wonders almost entirely to one mana 28 year-old French immigrant named Gaston Le Roy. By 1930, all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes by mouth. This end has been achieved by what is known as the Western Processa process in which the component parts of a clock are cast, or, so to speak, cemented together with an alloy, instead of staked, and in which all hand labor is replaced by automatic machinery., [Automatic machinery certainly sped up the manufacturing process, by plenty of human skill and attention was still required to make the Big Ben. I never realized, even working here, they made so many different models.. Yet Mrs. Keane was a survivor who later conquered colon and breast cancer. Advertisement: Illustrates crackle green Tiny Tim, crackle blue Big Ben and crackle pink Baby Ben clocks. Were finally at a point, where were ready to do more than just sit here, said Ruth Spayer, curator for the museum. Westclox style series. With George Kerns new alarm clock, specifically, Le Roy decided it would be wise to craft a new brand name, and to leave the Western name off of the clock face entirely, since the company was overly associated with cheap goods at the time. I bought a 1970s Westclox pocket watch with a Hotwheels face that says authorized seller on it. The greater surprise, though, is that they didnt abandon the use of radium in the years that followed. Stoddard: Some of the old American pocket watches are just beautiful so I have several in my collection. It was passed on to my sister and for years it was on their mantle along time until it stopped. They make alarm and one-day lever clocks only, and with practically two different articles, known as the 4-inch and 2-inch movements, they have an output of in their factory at LaSalle, Ill., of nearly two million clocks a year. But for years the majority were wind ups, they were so popular. I was told it was long ago before even my aged family was servicing watches. So I swapped them, and its worked perfectly ever since. It is and Elias Ingraham Brass Clock with a patent stamp of September 30, 1862. Kind regards, Ben van Vliet. Radium was also used until the early 1970s in "glow-in-the-dark" paints, e.g., for dials on clocks, and in other industrial applications such as instrument calibration. For my 14th birthday I got a book called The Treasury of American Clocks and there was a picture showing the seven types of Baby Bens. The disease, radium-induced osteonecrosis, was recognized as an occupational disease in 1925 after a group of radium painters, known as the Radium Girls, from the United States Radium Corporation sued. When did westclox start making clocks? Your response or advice would be much appreciated. Style 10 is the last numbered The first style 1a cases had double-hexagon legs, but after about a year they were changed to standard single hex form. Charles Stahlberg headed a group from Waterbury, Connecticut, who came to Peru in 1884 to build clocks based on a new idea by Stahlberg. . It led to life-saving regulations and, ultimately, to the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which now operates nationally in the United States to protect workers. When I got out of college I started going to the watch and clock conventions and met a man who was giving a program about the history of Big Bens and Baby Bens. I know that it is electric and it requires a dime deposit to set the alarm on it. When did they stop using radium on clocks? I think it is a clock made by Sessions. i have a large ansonia wall clock 32 1/2 x 32. [Workers assembling Big Ben alarm clocks at the Westclox plant, 1910s. It sits on a small brass stand with Westclox on it. Westclox began as the United Clock Company of Peru, Illinois in 1885. This will broaden my view in the clock. I was looking at it and said, aha! I am pleased that I came across your article. The Canadian Clock Museum (http://www.canclockmuseum.ca/) may have some information. the clock face is 16, ca 1900. the clock belonged to pheobe appersons family at their ranch in sunol california. It is stamped on the back of the casing DRP&GM. When did Westclox close? Without a crystal poses a serious Health risk because the Radium paint flakes off and can become airborne. The women also left a legacy to science that has been termed invaluable.. American manufacturers were quick to see that the millionaires are a negligible quantity as consumers, and that, not chronometersnot marvels of intricacy and originalitywere needed, but timepieces within the reach and want of all. I had developed some sort of fascination for Big Ben and Baby Ben clocks. By the 1960s production went offshore to achieve economies of scale . You just cant imagine the size of this factory its just gigantic. WECKER (CW arrow)/UHR (CCW arrow) knob with ring: CW winds alarm; CCW winds clock. According to Chemistry Explained, radium is extracted today from uranium ores in much the same way that Marie and Pierre Curie did in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Its hard to fathom in retrospect, but in the early 20th century, it was generally believed that small amounts of radium were perfectly harmless to humans, and thus, the substances natural, long-lasting glow actually made it something of an attractive novelty of the time periodnot just on clock dials, but in the worlds of quack medicine, fashion, cosmetics, and even a proto version of energy water, called Radithor.. At this moment I study horology at West Dean College in the UK. When I went home and washed my hands in a dark bathroom, they would appear luminous and ghostly, an original Ghost Girl named Catherine Donohue (nee Wolfe) later testified. Radium is an almost pure white alkaline radioactive earth metal, and is found in nature in uranium ores. England. His ideas were patented on as US patent #326,602. I have looked high and low in my attempts to find out how any of these resproduction style 1A were produced. You do not want to open them up, lest you breath radioactive dust from old paint or spread it around. In her 2017 book, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of Americas Shining Women, author Kate Moore notes that many of the new girls at the Radium Dial factory started out painting the famous Westclox Big Ben clocks before moving on to the smaller and more challenging Baby Ben, and finally the Pocket Ben and Scotty pocket watches, all produced at the Westclox Works. When I was eight we moved to a new house and my mom and I were looking in the attic and found an old octagon wall clock made by Waterbury, probably dated about 1880. I tend to be a nitty gritty detail kind of guy. I have an antique mantle clock given to my Aunt & Uncle for a wedding gift (approximately 1949) FROM my great grandparents. The standard operating procedure of their daily work involved literally placing radium flecked paint brushes between their lips to create a finer point before application. Radiums luminosity was part of its allure, Moore writes. When did westclox stop using radium? Is this a product that the company would have made or something someone created? It emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. When did they stop using radium for watches? Style 1 has three screws through the bezel visible from the front, style 1a doesnt (compare figures 3 and 7); Style 1 has two screws holding the bell back, style 1a has three. Despite Westcloxs deep German roots, the Illinois factory was a huge contributor to the U.S. military again during World War II, supplying upwards of a billion small parts for use in various defense products. It would be greatly appreciated. As seen below, the company made something of a symbolic gesture out of honoring the last Big Ben to roll off the assembly line on July 31, 1942, the day when all production shifted to government contracts for the duration of the war. After several changes of ownership, it became . Westclox also made about 5000 gold-plated reproductions. Theyre just scattered in different places all over the country, little collections of hands, springs, screws, and things like that. Thanks, I have come across a mantle clock that has been in my husbands family for as long as he can remember He estimates his bother purchased the clock around 1950. German: WECKER (alarm); UHR (clock). Ref comment #10 from Frank Baker. Your email (will not be published) (required), The Timeless Appeal of the Westclock Big and BabyBens, The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Not Your Grandmas Cuckoo: Decapitating, Rat-Eating Clocks of the Black Forest, The Care and Repair of 19th-Century American Clocks. The NAWCC is dedicated to providing association services, promoting interest in and encouraging the collecting of clocks and watches including disseminating knowledge of the same. A lot of American clocks have veneer over the base wood so if thats starting to peel it can be really expensive to get fixed. The Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock Vintage is an iconic timepiece that has been around since the early 1900s. The phosphor deterioration means you can't see a glow anymore, but . The movement was mounted to the inner case back. knowledge about vintage and antique Westclox clocks and watches. I know the site informs readers the amount of Big Bens produced in any one year, but does NOT for the reproduction model produced in 1970. The first Big Bens and Baby Bens in 1910 were wind ups.. In 1931 it merged with Seth Thomas Clock Co. and both became divisions of General Time Corp. If you look at a Baby Ben in the 1959 Sears catalog, they sold for about nine dollars and if you go to a Wal Mart today you can still buy a Baby Ben for about nine dollars, but the quality isnt the same. So I brought it home and left it hanging and would wind it up every once in a while. Any help would be appreciated. The Ingersoll Watch division of the Waterbury Clock Company, a nationally-known maker of low-cost pocket and wristwatches, was a leading popularizer of the use of radium for watch hands and indices through the introduction of their "Radiolite" watches in 1916. In fact, one of their designs for the military, the terrifying sounding WarAlarm, spurred a small shopping riot in Chicago in 1944 when a small batch of the clocks was made available for commercial purchase at a downtown store. Contact the Webmaster for perceived copyright infringement (DMCA Registration Number 1010287). Westclox Scotland produced its first clock on 21 September 1948; a spring wound alarm with a 4-inch (10cm) dial. How do you set the time on a old fashioned alarm clock? Can you help I have a sessions mantle clock duet#1. I was pained to learn how the girls had suffered while working here and sacrificed their lives to give the name of the company which it has today. The incidents occurred at three different factories in United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s. Dozens of radium dial painters around the country developed similar symptoms, although the effects could take years to manifest, making it more difficult to pinpoint the phenomenon from its first cases in the early 1920s. . I am sure I can give Mr. Shields further information about his clock. 514 Poplar Street Stoddard: Pay attention to quality. After the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 by French physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Antoine Henri Becquerel, many other scientists began to search for uses of radioactivity. Would you please direct me to someone that can do this for me? The only thing I found is the word Germny engraved on the back. Some years ago I intended to do a write-up on my collection and started researching on the internet and found the Westclox history site with a wealth of info. Any suggestions of where to get a replacement preferably in Canada? when did westclox stop using radium old restaurants in lawrence, ma . All the rods in my clocks are verticle that is from top to bottom of the case, four on each side at the back of the movement. For at least four generations, the Western Clock Manufacturing Company, aka Westclox, was the lifeblood and largest employer in the small town of Peru, Illinois (with a mailing address in its twin city of LaSalle). On March 31, 1980, the Peru-LaSalle plant was officially closed, narrowly missing its 100-year anniversary. Eventually, safer options were discovered, and the use of radium was discontinued in the 1960s. I recently added the Big Ben Style 1 and Baby Ben Style 1 Dial and Back types. Baby Ben and other Westclox clocks and watches have been assigned styles. Then, on New Years Eve, as 2011 became 2012, the unthinkable happened. I have been purchasing these clocks as and when I got an opportunity. [5] Indeed, the body treats radium as it does calcium, storing it in bone where it may cause bone degeneration and cancer.[5]. Collectors Weekly: When did you discover that there were other clock collectors? Its got a round brass dial and a painting in the door, really neat. Thank you I hope to document Style 5 Baby Bens this winter. In the production of ordinary clocks adapted to the needs and means of the millions, America produces results of remarkable excellence. At the end of one hand is a star and the other hand is the moon. Another thing people do is make fake advertising clocks. That way I got myself another Baby Ben, bringing my collection to three by age 12. Old Rose (pink) crackle finish Baby Ben with luminous dial: 1929 1930. We have photos of all the employees between 1927-1945 at the Peterborough Ontario Location but not much else. I believed it was manufacturing tag. The clock can still give considerable amounts of radiation about 2-3 inches from the Crystal measured with a Geiger counter. I would also like photo and more details of his clock, since I intend to write a follow-up article. However, there`s no easy way for you to tell; there were no labeling requirements then as we have now. In 2006 I started collecting vintage advertisements. But this is not how the story of Westclox began. Westclox Wrought Iron Look Wall Clock 12" 32021A. If you do not expect to work hard and carefully, you are in the wrong place., Big Ben is a handsome, well built, refined and bright looking fellow with a clean-cut open face and a deep cheerful voice,, A well-dressed, steady and punctual chap, up to the minute and always on the job., Big Ben always comes to you straight from home, LaSalle, Illinois,, But he only comes upon receipt of signed price agreement. Charles Stahlberg had an idea for making a better, but less expensive alarm clock. Now I know that theres probably 14 basic shapes, but a lot more variations than that depending on how far you want to take things. [citation needed] The use of radium to provide luminescence for hands and indices on watches soon followed. Stoddard: The prices for larger wall clocks, three feet tall and up, have increased dramatically, while prices on some of the more common clocks have remained the same for the past 20 years. By 1930, all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes by mouth. Stahlbergs company goes bankrupt not once, but twice, within its first several years. It can be found with some other clocks in a case in the second floor hallway. I think we threw it away. can anybody tell me about this piece? when did westclox stop using radium. then 4 symbols a crown an 18 and to unkown symbols in a square patern but on its side square pattern. When many of these early Big Ben advertisements were still running, Gaston Le Roys life took a sudden and dramatic turn. There is a small dial inside of the clock face that has roman numerals like another clock face. Donohue, like many of her young peers in the radium industry, eventually realized that her amusing glow had been a warning of severe exposure to a radioactive substance. Westclox Big Ben and Baby Ben Identification Guide , Remembering the Great War and The Clock That Caused a Near Riot . Sometimes Ive seen them for 300 to 600 dollars. The company made luminescent paint. dated:1990 ,decorated :hong cong.made in japan.cocacola tradmark. Thank you. All I really want to know is about the raised horizontal single eye type decoration on this top removable piece. As the 1960s began, over 50 million Big Ben clocks had been produced in total, and additional Westclox plants were now in operation everywhere from Athens, Georgia, and Ontario, Canada, to Scotland and Australia. Although old radium dials generally no longer produce light, this is due to the breakdown of the crystal structure of the luminous zinc sulfide rather than the radioactive decay of the radium. It is 3 diameter with Westclox on the back and PAT.APLOFOR. I read (but cant remember where) that about 40,000 were made. Located at 41.3275 N, 89.1290 W on the map, the companys former plant is admittedly on the absolute fringes of what would typically be designated Chicagoland turf. That summer at an antique store I came across one that wasnt even in the book, and I thought that was exciting. Thanks. Annie Moussin designer intrieur. Before OSHA was set up, 14,000 people died on the job every year; today, it is just over 4,500. When did clocks stop using radium? It is a Medbury-4W #4910. During World War II they had some fantastic ads that you can see on my website like, Victory Wont Wait for the Nation Thats Late, and Guard Your Big Ben where they show a bulldog and a soldier with a gun guarding a Big Ben because during the war they stopped making clocks for the consumer market and totally switched over to military work. Their Scottish factory was a full manufacturing plant, at which all their clocks were assembled from start to finish with only the basic raw materials being brought in by outside suppliers. Radium - The First Rolex Luminous Material. At the start of the decade, the company brought in a skilled new industrial designer named Henry Dreyfuss; a true modernist. I have never seen this mentioned anywhere. Clocks produced in the early 1900's are particularly concerning in this regard. The precise, delicate skill of painting clock dials with radium powder promised a much higher salary than most factory jobs available to women at the time (upwards of $18 a week), and the company soon employed as many as 200 female workers in its Ottawa plant. Stoddard: Ive been there several times. Penetrating gamma radiation produced by some dials also represents a significant health risk. This has probably been discussed before but my search turned up nothingdo the luminous hands on a Big Ben alarm clock contain painted radium? There are also some specialty chapters, like an alarm clock chapter and a 400-day clock chapter, one that specializes in wristwatches and one on early American pocket watches. It is a wind up. We are very proud to be living in this building and would love to know more about this specific site. So you find clocks where parts have been switched, so thats one challenge, determining originality. Patton, had joined Charles Stahlbergs original start-up back in 1886 at the age of just 13, and he was still on board in 1936, 50 years later. How did I get interested in clocks? Gary Biolchini added more style series in his book
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